PITTSBURGH — If the Cincinnati Reds run down the Chicago Cubs to win the National League Central this season ‒ or the St. Louis Cardinals for that matter ‒ it will be because of this: 

The starting rotation, which got another six strong innings out of Nick Martinez on Tuesday night against the Pirates, is one of the top two or three in the National League, depending on your preferred statistic.

On the other hand, If the Reds run down and fade in the coming months it will almost certainly be caused by the rest of what was on display during nine innings of low-voltage baseball at PNC Park.

Their 1-0 loss in the middle game of this week’s three-game series in Pittsburgh was already their fourth by that score this season ‒ their eighth shutout loss in 50 games. That’s a pace that would break the 1908 franchise record of 24 shutout losses.

Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs NL Central series upcoming

What’s all of this have to do with the Cubs? The division leaders come to town this weekend for their first meeting of the season with the Reds, and the teams match up again a week later in Chicago.

The Cubs are the Reds’ funhouse-mirror image, the top-scoring team in the league with a porous pitching staff dogged by significant injuries in the early going.

And how one incapable force fares against the other inconceivable object could play an outsized influence on the NL Central race this season, especially if the Reds are in it.

Consider the Reds starting pitching. Even as the Reds’ five-game winning streak was snapped with Tuesday’s loss, the rotation had a 1.41 ERA across 32 innings in that stretch:

Nick Martinez vs. White Sox, 5/15: W, 7.0 IP, 0 R, 3/0 K/BBBrady Singer vs. Guardians, 5/16: W, 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 4/3 K/BBBrent Suter* vs. Guardians, 5/17: ND, 3.0 IP, 0 R, 1/0 K/BBAndrew Abbott vs. Guardians, 5/18: W, 5.0 IP, 0 R, 5/3 K/BBNick Lodolo at Pirates, 5/19: W, 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 7/1 K/BBNick Martinez at Pirates, 5/20: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 3/2 K/BBTotals: 32.0 IP, 5 ER, 23 K, 9 BB

The group’s season ERA is 3.61.

And they expect to only get better Friday when triple-digit, All-Star ace Hunter Greene returns from a two-week stay on the injured list for a mild groin strain to open the Cubs series.

“Even the whole staff is throwing the ball really well,” said Martinez, who lowered his ERA to 1.77 over his past six starts (3.43 overall). “Our two rookies are throwing high leverage innings and getting the job done. We’ve just got to keep going.”

That would be Luis Mey and Lyon Richardson, who each pitched around traffic for scoreless innings in relief of Martinez in Pittsburgh.

But a lineup that, to be generous, has been wildly inconsistent, doesn’t inspire bet-the-house confidence it can hang in the formidable National League this year after it needed five runs in the final two innings Monday against the a soft Pittsburgh pen to finish the first two games against the last place Pirates this week with seven runs.

In fact, the four games before this series – all wins – were powered almost exclusively by five home runs by Will Benson, the outfielder, who already has two stretches in the minors. Benson drove in 10 of the Reds’ 19 runs in those four games, earning NL Player of the Week honors.

On the night the Pirates became the third team to beat the Reds 1-0 this season, lefty hitting leadoff man TJ Friedl opened the game with a triple off the right-field wall against left-hander Bailey Falter.

He was stranded. The Reds had four base runners the rest of the game, including Santiago Espinal on a leadoff double in the fourth. He did not so much as advance to third.

“You get a leadoff triple, and you strand him, and we had a double and didn’t score,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “But you do give that kid some credit. We know going in he’s got really good extension, so whatever the gun says, add to it, because it’s going to get up on you. You could tell by some of the at-bats we took. He broke some bats, he got past our barrel, got some strikeouts when he needed it. It’s real.”

Falter is among eight starting pitchers from six teams to spin all or parts of shutouts against the Reds, including Hunter Brown and Ronel Blanco in Houston, and AJ Smith-Shawver in Atlanta in barely two weeks.

The only run Martinez allowed Tuesday was the result of a one-out walk, stolen base and Bryan Reynolds run-scoring single. The Reds called a pitchout on the Oneil Cruz steal but catcher Jose Trevino lost the ball on the exchange.

“We’re playing good baseball, really,” Martinez said. “We just didn’t come out on top today. We’ve got to keep pushing.”